New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-30
nm, ny rreemaus aavfce the Aimiral would not
allow IL 10 he passed around him.

70 the na,trds rggns eago pa per the other day which
saned from Pilot Martin Freeman and yarn ro ey
a Mr. s's S Rs xaS% Now S sS' was" Chief
,ss HsTfS Sng saa 10 Know something s5oat
xsc%r got np f s G mr. %a Flag
TO have rope passed around the Admiral was at he time
odsred me 90 up main rgsg where the AID
Ts iS 5s ss deck Vim T'o ost g
e ns b 10 w SaSd us as anaer the fSooE soa made
the o. the line s' As tSOS ,a ,e a 1nee Sa
not necessrS but and made The after eoa secure
Of Fort sSsf1 aps e 6r sii H had
but wien an me s shr s soore he could come down
Mr. freeman ali this time the main top and possibly
M Sra msns s' D. Baldwin says he rs wen
n "S s 2T GS s R1.s s 'S
Of Others who can testify 70 se sns very respect
ouartermaster u str PhSx Naval academy
OF u. <. Flagship Hartford.
icertify that tho above statement Is true. ,
OF Baltimore and late Captain OF the Mizzen-
Top. u s. ship Hartford.
"Kpowles wrote me subsequently, to correct his
statement In regard to who sent him up the rig
cIng He wasn't certain who sent him, but he
all done hurriedy aud In the heat OF battle. It's
a small matter, anyhow, who gave the ORDER lie
Was mistaken in sapposng az rss tha. Uaptan
whether Admiral Farragut was or was not secured
10 the rigging should think that his testimony
is conclusive. The Admiral had good rea .ons Tor
thinking it worth his while 10 be secured by
iashihg when standing in the rigging. In the
naval operations at Vlcksbnrg he was stanaing n
the rigging fortunately not very high up wheh
shot cut through lot OF rope above hlm q he,Vy
piece of rope in its fall struck him and knocked
him down. wouudng him slightly
Nov, as regards Pages picture All the family
knew that he was painting it, Mr. Page thought
that the lashed to- the-rigging scene would MAKE
striking picture. My father went down 10 Perth
Amboy to sit for it, Mr. Page used 10 cherish the
piece of rope which my father used In illustrating
10th done
sort or assumed that POSITION IT the incident were
fictitious. With my father. | saw inc plcture
when 1t was in Mr.. Pages studio IN lenth-st, III
this city, and my father meyer took any exception
to the attitude In which he was depicted OF 10 'he
rope-ashne. ..,o
the evidence totally unassallable and that is The
Admirals own evidence. have 1ound among ny
mothers papers portion of letter from the Ad-
miral in which he alludes to the incident briefly.
but in such fashion that no room Is lett Tor any
misunderstanding as TO his meaning as Is "nat
he wrote my mother about the incident -,
80 J. told you that Watson dashed me 10 tne
shrduds-so he dd-that was IN the port nlzzen
rigging But when was m toe port main rigging
Dray ton sent qnartermaster to secure me- was
so much interested Ill what was going on around
thai dId 1t mechanically 900,
This letter was written on September 20 1851.
have no reason, therefore. to make any change az
all IN what said about the incident IN the Life
wrote of my father" ~,
MIR Farragut here opened volume of the
biography aud read the following extract referring
to the controversy about the Observation-Disclosures
story:
The direree opinion resulted from the fact that FsrTa
gut did remain long in any one position we the S nes
by The signal 9uarernaster as before men
20 ,hs deck and when the Hartford
he sSsf aP S NOW S eo@ S
says; ,.., him nv flashing with NV own hands. having
first begged him not to stand in such an exposed place
Mr. Farragut closed the book with something very
much like sigh of relief, saying: nope that !
shall not not be drawn into the controversy again"
Turning 10 Captain Watson, who had come In
few minutes before, he added IL Is your turn
now" -
"IfI saw anything at ALL" said Captain Watson,
"vou must not infer that do not consider the mat
ter sufficiently settled, but I've no objection TO tell
ing the truth at any time and repeating it when
necessary"
Captain Watson then gave his narrative as fol-
lows: "Some two days or thereabouts after the
fight we received bundle or illustrated papers
from New-York containing pictures of the engage
ment One of them had an Illustration representing
the Admiral dashed TO the mast: As WORK Oh arr II
ment. OF course. the artist had Numbered III req
resenring the Admiral on top OF the man Truck
dashed to the mast instead of TO the futtock-
shrouds The Admiral, In particular, was very
much amused with the picture and remarked how
strange IT was that simple incident. comparative
ly unimportant and hardly noticed at the time,
should so impress the popular imagination as to be
regarded as the most noteworty incident IN me
whole scene. We were then on the Hartford.
There were present the Admiral. Captain Drayton
and myself The Admiral there explained that his
going mp into the rigging was not premedifated AT
an that ne was standing on the sheer pole OF the
main rig ging the port side, so as 10 command the
Metacomet which was dashed to the Hartford, as
well as bis Own flagship that as the smoke Sg TSs
few ratllnes at time, until ne
found himself among the fIttock ss shrouds
after while with q flashing saying that he had
been sent up to secure him so that he might not
fail over board In case he were wounded a shot
no shr de a Admiral
saip he objected at hIst-called 1t all nonsense or
something of that sort-but almost Immediately
after recognized that 1t was wise precautlon and
assisted the sailor by making ope end fast himself
IL is not to be wondered at that good many peo-
pie did not notice that ne was iasnea IN tne SMOKE.
he remained dashed a very short time. Just as
soon as the vessels were well inside OF the bay he
came down on the quarter deck and afterward TO
the poop Therefore people do not contradict the
lashed- tot he-riggiug story who assert that they
saw him on the poop OF quarter deck during inc
"Brownell in his poem, The Bay Fight, puts
the Admiral high in the mizzen shroud, ana ior
this he has been somewhat severely criticised But
there Is this much foundation In fact for the state
ment: At a subsequent phase of tue 6attteIthat OF
the duel between the Tennessee and the Hartford
Just as the Hartford was about to ram the len
nessee, the Admiral sprang into the mizzen rigging
on the port side. was standing on the deck near
him. and urged him not 10 remain III such posi-
tiop as he would be conspicuous target for rifle
or pistol. But he continued there. that he might
better observe the impending collision between the
two ships. | picked up piece OF rope on the poop
and made turn around his body, and secured the
. rope to the mizzen sbrouds. In this position the
Admiral remained while the two ships scraped
sides
.It has always struck me-" continued Captain
Watson, "tbat those who revive this controversy
and attempt to refute positive evidence by mega
tive evidence and reconstruct history put them
selves In an extremely ridiculous position. Be-
cause they didn't something in the battle which
was not at all conspicuous they persist in asserting
that that something never happened. Could any.
thing be more absurdf cannot myself
now remember that . when the Al
rigging | noticed that he was secured
By a lashing. don't think dd notice it; the
flashing was small and not easily seen, especially
amid so much not work where every man had his
hands full Should /, therefore. be justified in as
sertng that the Admiral not dashed TO the port
main rigging Manifestly not. But that is pre-
else what some people W no took part IN the hight
are doing If they merely contented themselves